September 2018

New Trump Administration Rule Would Keep Legal Immigrant  Families Away from Health Care and in the Shadows

Washington, DC – In its latest attack on health care, the Trump Administration announced a long-rumored proposal to change a decades-old immigration rule. The change would prevent legal immigrant families on the road to U.S. citizenship from being able to secure permanent lawful immigration status if they utilize a vast array of health care supports, such as Medicaid, nutrition assistance, or other services. The proposal, which is now subject to a comment period, would be disastrous for legal immigrants and their families, particularly children — and to cities, states, and our nation’s future — if it is adopted. In response to the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to the “public charge” rule, Leslie Dach, chair of Protect Our Care, issued the following statement:

“As if ripping families apart at the border and putting children in cages wasn’t bad enough, the Trump administration is trying to use health care as a weapon against legal immigrants in America. This is yet another outrageous attack on health care in this country and the ability of immigrants to live their lives with dignity.”

To learn more about the Trump Administration’s proposed rule change, please visit www.protectimmigrantfamilies.org.

Voters Disapprove of Republican Incumbents’ Pro-Repeal Record, Say They Want Affordable Care Act Improved Rather than Repealed, and Trust Democrats More Than Republicans With Their Health Care

“The issue of health care could be [the] key to ousting the incumbent in this race,” says Florida Politics blog

Washington, DC – New Public Policy Polling surveys commissioned by Protect Our Care finds that health care may be a decisive issue for voters in the Florida battlegrounds of CD 18, CD 25 and CD 26.  Said Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, in response to the poll findings:

“Pro-repeal incumbents Brian Mast, Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Curbelo have a lot to be worried about. As these polls show, voters are angry at their efforts to repeal and sabotage American health care and they are getting ready to take that anger out at the polls.”  

Here’s how the polls were covered locally today:

Florida Politics: Lauren Baer Polling Within Three Points Of Brian Mast (FL-18). “When asked who they trust more to handle the issue of health care, 49 percent back Democrats and 46 percent say they favor Republicans and President Donald Trump. Only 4 percent are undecided. But when it came to their district, voters favored Democrats by a wider margin. A total of 49 percent of respondents say they would rather vote for a congressional candidate who is ‘a Democrat who supports the Affordable Care Act and wants to improve it.’ That compares to 44 percent who say they’d prefer ‘a Republican who wants to repeal’ the ACA.”

• Click here to view the memo from PPP for FL-18.

Florida Politics: Mary Barzee Flores Closing In On Mario Diaz-Balart, Poll Shows (FL-25). “49 percent say they trust Democrats more on the issue of health care. But 46 percent trust Republicans and President Donald Trump more. Only 4 percent were undecided. When asked about their votes going forward, 51 percent prefer ‘a Democrat who supports the Affordable Care Act and wants to improve it.’ That compares to 43 percent who’d rather vote for ‘a Republican who wants to repeal’ the ACA. Those numbers could bode well for the Democrats, who have signaled their desire to keep health care at the forefront of the 2018 midterms after Republicans’ failed attempt to repeal the ACA last year.”

• Click here to view the memo from PPP FL-25.

Florida Politics: Carlos Curbelo Trailing In Newest CD 26 Poll (FL-26). “A majority, 53 percent, say they support the ACA. Only 35 percent say they oppose it, while 12 percent are undecided. A whopping 57 percent say they trust Democrats more on the issue of health care, while 40 percent favor President Donald Trump and Republicans….A total of 57 percent say they’d prefer ‘a Democrat who supports the Affordable Care Act and wants to improve it.’ Just 38 percent want ‘a Republican who wants to repeal’ the ACA. The issue of health care could be Mucarsel-Powell’s key to ousting the incumbent in this race.”

• Click here to view the memo from PPP FL-26.

As he prepares to take the stage with Donald Trump tonight, today Josh Hawley earned a “mostly false” rating from Politifact Missouri on health care and the Kansas City Star lamented his misinformation campaign about his lawsuit to overturn pre-existing conditions protections for millions of Americans, including nearly 2.5 million Missourians.

Here are more whoppers Josh Hawley has told the people of Missouri in recent weeks:

1. Hawley Is Arguing Against Pre-Existing Condition Protections In Court, And Encouraging Consumers To Buy Association Health Plans That Can Discriminate Against People With Pre-Existing Conditions. Hawley claims that Sen. Claire McCaskill has chosen not to back reforms that would have covered pre-existing conditions, despite the fact that she voted against numerous bills last year that would have enabled insurance companies to once again charge people with pre-existing conditions more and opposes a lawsuit led by Hawley that would overturn these protections. At the same time, Hawley argues in favor of health plans that can discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. In contrast to ACA-compliant health plans which are required to provide essential health services and are prohibited from raising premiums when someone gets sick, association health plans are able to discriminate against consumers at their whim. They also have a history of fraud and unpaid claims.
2. Hawley Wants To Bring Missourians Back To When Insurance Companies Could Charge Women And Adults Over 50 More For Coverage. Hawley argues that we should eliminate “one-size-fits-all dictates” about what services, like maternity care and prostate exams, insurance plans need to cover. Eliminating these crucial consumer protections would take us back to before the Affordable Care Act, when insurance companies were allowed to charge women, people over 50, and people with pre-existing conditions more. Prior to the ACA, insurance companies charged women an estimated $1 billion more than men for the same health care plans, and 75 percent of individual market plans did not cover maternity care, 45 percent did not cover substance use disorder services, and 38 percent did not cover mental health services.
3. Hawley claims that “millions of Americans have lost their healthcare plans.” This claim, which Republicans have been repeating for years, has already been fact checked as misleading given that “far more have gained coverage than had their policies canceled.” The ACA ultimately helped 20 million Americans access coverage, including more than 240,000 Missourians who were able to purchase care through the marketplace.
4. Hawley pointed to premium increases as evidence of the ACA’s failure, but fails to mention that Republican sabotage is increasing premiums and costing consumers. In fact, experts say Republican efforts to sabotage the ACA are causing premiums continue to increase. A Brookings Institute analysis estimates that premiums would have decreased by 4.3 percent in 2019 if not for Republican efforts to sabotage the law.
5. Hawley claims that insurance companies are profiting thanks to “open-ended payments” from the federal government. However, the Affordable Care Act limits the amount of premiums that insurance companies can take as profit. The federal government does not send open-ended payments to insurance companies, instead it pays for a portion of low-income Americans’ premiums. Because of the ACA, 80 percent of premiums must be used to pay for actual health care costs rather than administrative expenses and overhead. Thanks to this requirement, Missouri insurance companies returned more than $13.7 million in rebates to consumers in 2016.
6. Hawley falsely alleges that Sen. McCaskill sides with big pharma, when Sen. McCaskill Is Fighting To Stop Drug Price Increases. However, Sen. McCaskill has not only commissioned reports on drug pricing and supported allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, but has also introduced numerous pieces of legislation aimed at lowering drug costs and preventing consumers from overpaying on prescription drugs.

Will Cruz Own His Repeal and Sabotage Record, Including Support for GOP’s Lawsuit Targeting Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions?

Washington, DC – Tonight — on the heels of a new poll from Public Policy Polling (PPP) for Protect Our Care showing the race is a dead heat — health care champion Rep. Beto O’Rourke debates one of the GOP’s biggest cheerleaders for repealing protections for people with pre-existing conditions, Ted Cruz. Said Leslie Dach, chair of Protect Our Care, ahead of tonight’s debate:

“From his repeated votes for repeal, to his vocal support for the Trump-GOP lawsuit to overturn protections for people with pre-existing conditions overnight, to his vote to cut billions from Medicare and Medicaid, Ted Cruz’s anti-health care record is out of step with Texas voters who say that health care is one of the most important issues to them this election. The question is whether Ted Cruz will step onto the debate stage owning the damage he’s done to health care, or if he’ll follow Trump, Hawley, Heller and the rest of the GOP and try to hide from it.”

Key Findings from the Protect Our Care-PPP Poll of Texas Voters:

• Sixty-two percent of voters say health care is the most important or a very important issue for them this election.  
• Sixty-two percent of voters say the elimination of protections for people with pre-existing conditions, supported by Ted Cruz, is “a major concern.”
• Texas voters oppose the Texas attorney general and Trump administration’s lawsuit to eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions by a 40 point margin, 59 percent to 19 percent.
• Sixty percent of voters say the “Age Tax” supported by Ted Cruz is “a major concern.”
• Nearly half (49 percent) of Texas voters oppose repealing the Affordable Care Act and instead want to keep what works and fix what doesn’t.
• The survey finds Cruz and O’Rourke in a dead heat, with 48 percent of voters supporting Cruz, 45 percent supporting O’Rourke and eight percent undecided.

What Would Repeal of Health Care in Texas Mean?

• It would undo protections for 11,579,100 Texans with pre-existing conditions if they buy coverage on their own
• Marketplace tax credits and coverage for up to 963,000 Texans would disappear
• Full repeal would end improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs
• No more allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26
• Insurance companies could once again impose annual and lifetime limits on coverage
• Insurance companies could also once again discriminate against women
• Limits on out-of-pocket costs would be eliminated
• Rules to hold insurance companies accountable would disappear
• Small business tax credits would be eliminated

Ted Cruz Is One of the Senate’s Top Cheerleaders For Repeal

Cruz’s First Piece Of Legislation Was To “Fully Repeal Obamacare.”  “Since Sen. Cruz took office, he has been a leading voice for repealing Obamacare. In fact, the first piece of legislation he filed, co-sponsored by 32 Republicans, was to fully repeal Obamacare Before the law went into effect in January 2014, Sen. Cruz led the effort to halt its implementation and defund Obamacare, filibustering it on the floor for an historic 21 hours.” [Cruz.Senate.Gov, accessed 9/21/18]

2013: Cruz Led The Republican Effort To Shut Down The Government Over Funding For The ACA.  “ In 2013, Cruz, along with conservatives in the House, demanded that any spending bill also delay the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats, who still had control of the chamber in 2013, were never going to support such a move. But enough House Republicans wouldn’t go for a funding bill that didn’t defund Obamacare, setting up a showdown that shut down government for more than two weeks. (In the end, Cruz and the conservative House faction did not win policy concessions.) Republicans were largely blamed for the shutdown. Cruz’s theatrics inspired the ire not just of Democrats, but of his Republican colleagues in the Senate, who felt Cruz knew his self-righteous gambit was doomed to fail, but went ahead with it anyway to raise his own political profile at his party’s expense.” [Vox, 1/22/18]

2015:  Cruz Voted To Repeal Most Of The ACA.  Cruz voted for legislation that gutted the Affordable Care Act by eliminating the insurance exchanges and subsidies, and repealing the Medicaid expansion accepted by 30 states, including Nevada.  [HR 3762, Roll Call Vote #114, 12/3/15]

2017:  Cruz Voted For The Senate “Repeal And Delay” Plan.  Cruz voted for Obamacare Repeal and Replacement Act was a Republican effort to repeal the ACA without a replacement.  Known as “repeal and delay,” the bill repealed major sections of the ACA, including the Medicaid expansion and premium tax credits, in 2020.  [HR 1628, Roll Call Vote #169, 7/26/17]

• If Repeal and Delay became law, 32 million fewer people would have health insurance by 2026. 18 million Americans would lose health coverage just in the first year after repeal.
• Health insurance premiums would double for those in the individual market.

2017: Cruz Voted For The Better Care Reconciliation Act.  Cruz voted for the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which repealed and replaced the ACA.    [HR 1628, Roll Call Vote #168, 7/25/17]

• BCRA would have eliminated coverage for 15 million Americans in 2018.
• The bill gutted Medicaid by more than $2 trillion over the next two decades and eliminated Medicaid expansion.
• Individual premiums would have increased 20 percent in 2018 and comprehensive coverage would become “extremely expensive” in some markets.

2017:  Cruz Voted For “Skinny Repeal” Of The ACA. Cruz voted for “Skinny Repeal” of the ACA, which repealed the individual mandate and delayed the employer mandate while leaving most of the rest of the law in place.  [HR 1628, Roll Call Vote #179, 7/28/17]

According To  CBO, Skinny Repeal Would Have Resulted In The Largest Coverage Loss in American History:

• • At minimum, 15 million Americans would lose coverage in 2018.  This would have been the biggest one-year increase in our nation’s history.
  • Premiums would go up by roughly 20 percent

2018:  Ted Cruz: “We Need To Finish The Job” On Obamacare.  “Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Wednesday said Republicans needed to ‘finish the job” on repealing and replacing Obamacare in 2018, and he is pushing his colleagues to use one last reconciliation bill before the midterms to deliver on their long-running promise.” [Washington Examiner, 1/24/18]

Cruz Supports The GOP Lawsuit To Eliminate Protections For People With Pre-Existing Conditions

Ted Cruz Said It Was “Reasonable” To Argue ACA’s Preexisting Conditions Rules Are Now Unconstitutional.  “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), as vociferous an Obamacare critic as you’ll find, sounds on board with the latest legal challenge to the health care law that could lead to protections for people with preexisting conditions being found unconstitutional. Cruz told Vox that he thought the Justice Department’s position in the lawsuit, that the law’s rules on preexisting conditions should be invalidated along with the individual mandate, was ‘reasonable’ and defended the foundation of the case being brought by his home state of Texas in a brief interview at the Capitol.” [Vox, 6/15/18]

• Cruz Claimed The Lawsuit Would Result In “More Competition, More Options, More Individual Freedom And Lower Premiums.” “‘Those parts that the court explicitly upheld under the taxing power, the Department of Justice conceded, under the court’s reasoning, no longer had a constitutional basis,’ Cruz, who studied law at Harvard and served as Texas’s solicitor general before coming to Congress, told me. ‘ think that is a reasonable position for the Justice Department to take.’ ‘I think the consequence if the court agrees with the state of Texas’s lawsuit will be that consumers will have more choices, more competition, more options, more individual freedom and lower premiums,’ he continued. ‘That’s a win for health care consumers across the country.’”  [Vox, 6/15/18]

Cruz Voted for the Republican Tax Bill That Hurts Texans Health

Ted Cruz was a key vote for the Republican tax bill, which repealed a key provision of the Affordable Care Act that required most people to have health coverage which will result in more people without coverage, higher costs and devastated insurance markets.  

The tax bill also explodes the debt, meaning Medicare could be cut.  Republicans are already talking about the need to cut Medicare and Social Security even more to deal with the $1.5 trillion this tax bill adds to the national debt. On the chopping block: Medicare and Social Security. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) recently said, “we’ve got a lot of work to do in cutting spending.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was more explicit, saying, “We have to generate economic growth which generates revenue, while reducing spending. That will mean instituting structural changes to Social Security and Medicare for the future.”

Tax Bill Means Higher Costs, Especially for Older Texans. One estimate shows in Texas alone, family premiums in the marketplace will increase on average by $1,730 in 2019. The AARP estimates a 64-year-old Texan will have to pay $1,279 more in premiums because of health repeal, essentially an age tax for people over 50.

One Million Texans Could Lose Coverage. As a result of the tax bill, an estimated 1,036,000 Texans  will lose coverage by 2025.  

This plan showered tax breaks on wealthy Americans and giant corporations at the expense of working people. The Tax Policy Center found that the richest 0.1 percent will get a nearly $150,000 tax break.

• Under the tax bill, our tax code is more rigged than ever before, with 83 percent of these tax cuts going to the top 1 percent.
• The plan permanently slashes tax rates for the biggest corporations by $1.4 trillion, a 40 percent tax break, and cuts the top individual tax rate that millionaires pay. The plan further incentivizes corporations to ship jobs overseas by giving them a permanently lower tax rate if they do so.

Heller Authored Repeal Legislation That Would Have Eliminated Pre-existing Conditions Protections For 1.2 Million Nevadans

Trump’s Lawsuit Could Cause Protections for All 130 Million Americans with Pre-existing Conditions to Vanish Overnight

Trump and Heller Only the Latest Republican to Lie About Pre-existing Conditions Protections

Washington, DC – At a campaign stop with Dean Heller, a lead sponsor on the failed Senate repeal bill that did not include pre-existing conditions protections, President Trump became the latest Republican politician to flat-out lie about the party’s commitment to protect people with pre-existing conditions. Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, said in response:

“What the repealer-in-chief Donald Trump said is a lie and his accomplice, Dean Heller, knows it is. After all, this is the same Dean Heller who pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act — including its protections for people with pre-existing conditions — after the election. Just this week, Kevin Cramer got Three Pinocchios for saying the Republican repeal bills include pre-existing conditions protections. Representatives Mike Coffman, Bruce Poliquin, Carlos Curbelo and others were exposed for erasing their pro-repeal record and statements from their websites. Scott Walker got eviscerated by health experts after he falsely claimed that he has an alternate plan to protect people with pre-existing conditions if the Trump-Walker lawsuit to overturn them is successful. Republicans like Dean Heller, Kevin Cramer, Bruce Poliquin, Scott Walker and Donald Trump want to scrub their records on health care for one simple reason: voters are angry at their efforts to repeal and sabotage American health care and they are getting ready to take that anger out at the polls.”  

Six in 10 Texas Voters Cite Health Care as Most or Very Important Issue in Senate Race

Voters Oppose Cruz-GOP Repeal and Sabotage Efforts, Including GOP’s Lawsuit Targeting Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions

Public Policy Polling Survey Has Race a Dead Heat: Cruz 48, Beto 45

Washington, DC – A new Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey commissioned by Protect Our Care finds that 62 percent of voters in Texas say health care will be one of the most important issues they consider when casting their vote in November. What’s more, 44 percent are deeply concerned about Senator Ted Cruz’s work to repeal health care and nearly 60 percent oppose the Trump Administration’s lawsuit to end protections for those with pre-existing conditions, which Cruz has refused to oppose.

The poll shows that for Cruz, who has been among the GOP’s fiercest advocates for repealing the American health care law, the issue is a drag on his prospects for reelection. In the poll, Cruz is in a dead heat against Democrat Beto O’Rourke 48 (Cruz) to 45 (O’Rourke). The poll was conducted September 19th and 20th among 613 Texas registered voters. The survey has a margin of sampling error of +/- 4 percent.

“Ted Cruz thought he was going to score political points shutting the government down trying to repeal health care, but what he actually did was put his own reelection prospects in serious jeopardy. Ted Cruz’s constituents say health care is one of the most important issues to them this election, and as a result he’s taking on some pretty serious water in this race. Whether it is Cruz’s opposition to protections for people with pre-existing conditions or his vote for an age tax, Ted Cruz’s extreme health care views are rejected by his constituents.”

Key Findings from the Poll:

• Sixty-two percent of voters say health care is the most important or a very important issue for them this election.  
• Sixty-two percent of voters say the elimination of protections for people with pre-existing conditions, supported by Ted Cruz, is “a major concern.”
• Texas voters oppose the Texas attorney general and Trump administration’s lawsuit to eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions by a 40 point margin, 59 percent to 19 percent.
• Sixty percent of voters say the “Age Tax” supported by Ted Cruz is “a major concern.”
• Nearly half (49 percent) of Texas voters oppose repealing the Affordable Care Act and instead want to keep what works and fix what doesn’t.
• The survey finds Cruz and O’Rourke in a dead heat, with 48 percent of voters supporting Cruz, 45 percent supporting O’Rourke and eight percent undecided.

What Would Repeal of Health Care in Texas Mean?

• It would undo protections for 11,579,100 Texans with pre-existing conditions if they buy coverage on their own
• Marketplace tax credits and coverage for up to 963,000 Texans would disappear
• Full repeal would end improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs
• No more allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26
• Insurance companies could once again impose annual and lifetime limits on coverage
• Insurance companies could also once again discriminate against women
• Limits on out-of-pocket costs would be eliminated
• Rules to hold insurance companies accountable would disappear
• Small business tax credits would be eliminated

You can read the full polling results here.